F13 vs Counterstrike vs Minecraft (not apples to oranges)

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How do you guys feel about the progress and direction that Friday the 13th has taken since it first released late May of this year?

Before you answer that, lemme tell you a little story about 2 other indie games, most of us are very familiar with, where I invested a lot of playing time since it's birth.

COUNTERSTRIKE:

A long time ago when multiplayer games were limited to PC gamers, there was a game called, Half-Life, which not only revolutionized FPS games but also inspired many MODs to the game. After exhausting death-match and that other popular mod, Team Fortress Classic, I was introduced to a new MOD called Counterstrike. It was quietly developed by 2 fellows in 1999 and while it graphically looked primitive and was super glitchy, there was something about it that kept my friends and I engaged. It only had 1 map I think called Mansion where the good guys would have to infiltrate a mansion that was taken over by the bad guys, with the goal of rescuing hostages. I remember the first person angle of the gun was Lefty instead of the traditional Righty which for some reason had ppl upset even back then LOL.

It quickly drew popularity and Valve, the company responsible for Half-Life, hired the 2 guys and started releasing updates and patches for it. With every patch the game started looking better, glitches were fixed, new maps added, new weapons, game mechanics improved, but the balance was always maintained. A new patch didn't suddenly favor a side with a promise that it would re-balance it in a future possible patch.

The game inspired a hardcore audience where competitions and gambling took place, especially amongst Russian players. It was never watered down or handi-capped. From my experience, it always felt it got better and the game mechanics tighter. First time we had smoke grenades was amazing. When the bomb was introduced as another way to win as a terrorist, I remember being blown away (no pun intended) I could go on but you catch my drift and I'm not even gonna get into CS:GO cuz well, I didn't play it much. Just talking about the original Counterstrike and Counterstrike Source.

MINECRAFT:

I remember the time my friend told me about this game you could purchase online for really cheap that 1 indie developer was working on his own. He told me it captured the magic of 8 bit gaming from back in the day where graphics were primitive but we were so immersed by the game that our mind would fill in the blanks. I couldn't fathom how a first person blocky 3D game with blocky enemies and blocky textures could draw anyone into it .. until I played it.

It didn't take long for me to be immersed in this blocky world where watching the sun go down and not having a safe place to hide would give me such anxiety. I would scream when a blocky skeleton would somehow shoot an arrow at me from a platform below. That moment when a blocky Creeper would somehow find its way inside my blocky fortress made of dirt and explode in my face, killing me instantly, would give me a heart attack. This reminded me of the anxiety and panic I would feel playing the NES Friday the 13th back in the 80s. That purple Jason popping up in the cabins or outside slinging Machetes at me was intense, especially since 80% of the counselors were slow af.

Back to Minecraft, I had no idea how much health I had cuz we had no life meter in it's early build, I had no idea where i was cuz there was no map. I had to create towers of blocks, unique enough to mark my progress so that I would remember where my little fortress was in the event I died and wanted to go back to it. Ahh that feeling of sunrise and hearing the monsters dying sounded like paradise to me.

I think I paid like $13 for the game where it went straight into the developers pocket, long before the game had any hope of being released on a console nor gaining the popularity it has now.

~~~~~

I mention Minecraft because, much like Counterstrike, it started as an indie project and slowly grew into a household name. However, while Counterstrike maintained a reputation as a hardcore game where you couldn't just run and gun it like other shooters and never relented in it's difficult learning curve, Minecraft shifted it's focus to the kids and marketed it's characters much like Nintendo markets Mario and Luigi. That's all nice and dandy since Minecraft was never confirmed to be a 'hardcore' title but nonetheless, I do not enjoy Minecraft like I did when it was in it's early builds because it's not the same game anymore, it has changed so much of what it once that it just doesn't capture that feeling of isolation, fear/anxiety that I used to get. Seeing stuffed animals of the Creepers at Hot Topic has desensitized me of their level of threat much like watching Jason being circle jerk trolled in almost every match now has diminished that fear I had just watching him approaching me from the woods.

Friday the 13th started out very glitchy, and still is, but it delivered an experience and an atmosphere similar to what both Counterstrike and Minecraft did respectfully.

However, the path it is taking now from my point of view is that it is leaning more towards the kids and casual players like Minecraft did, rather than maintaining it's hardcore level of difficulty like Counterstrike maintained over the years.

While Minecraft since the beginning was a blocky, simple little game with bright colors, cute little blocky piggies and such, it's understandable that they would market it the way they have and catered towards the audience that it has catered to. I wish it was more like it's early day but I can see why it happened.

Friday the 13th on the other hand was NEVER marketed in it's Kickstarter nor in it's initial release as a parody of the films/franchise. It was marketed as a hardcore F13 simulation where you play as the killer or die trying to escape from him. Party dancing packs, silly costumes, etc have watered it down and taken away from it's hardcore scary atmosphere and the nerfs Jason has endured have drastically changed the gameplay. Adapting to what it is now is a humble attitude to have and I'm doing my best to maintain that but suffice to say, it is not the game it once was.

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Good read, and I agree. I don’t know what the fuck is going on with this game but I don’t like it. I played it for what seems like an eternity and then I took a little break. During which the first update that really screwed the pooch came out. By the time I jumped back in, the game was a royal fucking mess. A shell of its former self and a huge disappointment to me. I just wanted some Single Player DLC not some damn emotes! Ugh... it makes me sick just thinking about it.